Expenditure on R&D carried out by government organisations in Australia in 2000-01 was estimated to be $2,368m, a 14% increase on expenditure in 1998-99 (see table 25.1).

As shown in table 25.9, the research fields in which most government R&D expenditure took place were: Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences ($773m, or 33%); Engineering and technology ($385m, or 16%); Biological sciences ($260m, or 11%); Information, computing and communication sciences ($217m, or 9%); Earth sciences ($215m, or 9%); and Medical and health sciences ($183m, or 8%).